Massage appratus.



. PATENTED MAY 7, 1907.

n. c. PIS HER. MASSAGE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1905.

llllll 3 having a multiplicity of ports for the purpose llNliTED STATESATENT OFFTOEQ MASSAGE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent Fatented May 7, 1907.

Application filed July 3,1905. Serial No. 268,074.

To all whom, it 777/6117/ concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL O. FIsHER, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulMassage Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an apparatus fortreating the eyes and cars by a treatment similar to massage or similarto leaching of other parts of the body, although my apparatus may ofcourse be used for other purposes where pressure or suction is to beapplied intermittently. It has been found in the practice of treatingthe ears, eyes, etc., that either suction or pressure is at timesdesirable, and my apparatus is adapted to apply either to the body.

My invention consists essentially in the use of a source of fluidpressure, an instrument for application to the body of the patient, aconduit between them, and in providing in that conduit means toalternately connect the instrument with the source of pressure and withan atmosphere of lower pressure for the purpose of giving rapid impulsesto the body of the patient without fear of danger to the part treated.

My invention consists also in the combination of a source of pressure; athree-way valve, and means to continuously operate the valve so that itwill alternately connect a port leading to the object to be operatedupon with an atmospheric port and a port connected with the source ofpressure.

Another feature of my invention is a valve of giving a multiplicity ofimpulses for each revolution of the valve shaft.

Other detailed features of my invention are described below:

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the preferredvalve. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the valve seat on line 22 ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the valve. Fig. l is a sideelevation of the valve seat. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the apparatusoperating on the eye of the patient.

A is an eye cup connected by conduit B with the receptacle or valvecasing D supported on base D. Leading from receptacle D is conduit Ehaving stop-cock e, gage e and needle valve 0 Conduit E is connectedwith pressure or vacuum tank F having gage f and safety valve f andhaving connection G with pressure or vacuum pump H. Re-

form and which has ports (2 arranged similarly to ports (2 butalternating with them and extending through the valve seat to theatmosphere. Journaled in the receptacle is shaft (6" which has shoulder(Z to bear against the sleeve journal (i threaded for adjustment in thereceptacle. Check nut d is threaded. to engage in sleeve journal.Engaging the shaft at one end is step screw (Z and carried at the otherend is pulley d for connection with means for rotating it. Nipple o" isconnected with conduit B and nipple (Z is connected with conduit E.

Valve J is mounted on shaft d and has ports arranged similarly to theports in the valve seat.

I will describe the operation of my apparatus when used with a pressuretank and pressure pump, as the operation with a vacuum tank or a blowerwill be sufficiently clear from that description.

The pressure pump supplies the tank with air under pressure which iscontrolled by the safety valve f and which is indicated by gage Air isconveyed from the tank to the receptacle by conduit E. Stop cock 6 beingopened the desired pressure in the conduit will be obtained byadjustment of the needle valve and will be indicated by gage (2. Valve Jis rotated through pulley d and is adjusted with reference to its valveseat by means of the step-screw and sleeve journal. The ports in thevalve are arranged to register alternately with ports d and ports d ofthe valve seat. l/Vhen the valve ports register with the ports dimpulses of pressure are conveyed to the body of the patient and whenthe valve ports register with ports (Z of the valve seat pressure isexhausted to the atmosphere, and for each revolution of the valve asshown there will be six impulses and six exhausts with the result thatthe number of impulses of pressure per unit of time will be much greaterthan with any apparatus heretofore known, and this is due to myconstantly rotating valve and to the arrangement of ports.

The advantage of my arrangement of stop-cock, gage and needle valve inconduit E is that the operator can regulate and ob serve the exactamount of pressure that is being transmitted to the patient and thispulsating IIO pressure can be maintained uniformly regardless of thepressure in the tank, the only requirement being that the pressure inthe tank be greater than the desired pressure on the patient.

Any suitable number of ports in the valve and valve seat may be used,depending on the treatment desired.

It will be clear that when a vacuum is used that air is withdrawnthrough the ports at and when ports d are open that air is sup pliedfrom the atmosphere, and the rest of the operation when vacuum is usedwill be clear from the description already given. In some cases Isubstitute for the tank F ablower which will not depart from the princile of my invention, which is that a source 0 pressure may be connectedwith the body or the patient by a conduit which has means to alternatelyapply the pressure to, and relieve it from the body of the patient, togain the advantages recognized to be due to the rapid 1application ofpulsations of pressure to the It will be clear that in the form of myinvention herein shown tank F is the source of pressure, eye-cup A isthe instrument for application to the body and that pipes B and Econstitute a conduit connecting them, while the valve J is the means inthat conduit for alternately connecting eye-cup A first with tank F andthen with the atmosphere. It will also be clear that when operatingunder a vacuum the ports (1 and pipe B constitute the conduit connectingeye-cup A with the source of pressure which in this case is theatmosphere and valve J will then alternately connect instrument A firstwith the relatively high pressure of the atmosphere and then with therelatively low pressure of the tank F.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a source ofconstant pressure; an instrument for application to the body a c0nduitconnecting the source of constant pressure and the instrument; and meansin said conduit to alternately connect said instrument first with thesource of constant pressure and then with an atmosphere of lowerpressure.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a source ofpressure; a three-way valve having the first port thereofconnected withthe source of pressure, the second port connected with the object to beoperated upon, and the third port communicating with the atmosphere; andmeans to continuously operate the valve to alternately connect thesecond port with the firstand third orts.

3. An apparatus of the character escribed comprising a source ofpressure; a three-way valve having a port leading to the object to beoperated upon, a set of ports communi-- eating with the source ofpressure and a set of ports communicating with the atmosphere; and meansto continuously rotate the valve to alternately connect the firstmentioned port first with one of the portaof the first set and then withone of the ports of the second set.

4. An apparatus of the character described comprising a source ofpressure; a rotary three-way valve having a port leading to the objectto be operated upon, a set of ports communicating with the source ofpressure and a set of ports communicating with the atmosphere, and meansto continuously rotate the valve to alternately connect the firstmentioned port with the two sets of ports.

5. A three-way valve comprising a receptacle having two chambers; avalve seat separating the chambers and having one set of ports leadingfrom one chamber to the other and having anotherset of ports leadingfrom one chamber to the atmosphere; a valve to fit the valve seat andhaving ports to alternately register withthe two sets of ports of thevalve seat and means to rotate the valve. 1

6. The combination of a three-way valve; a source of constant pressure;a conduit connecting the source 01 constant pressure and three-wayvalve; a ressure gage for that conduit; a stop-cock 1n the conduitbetween the three-way valve and gage and a needle valve in the conduitbetween the gage and source of constant pressure for regulating thecapacity of the conduit; substantially as, and for the purposes,described.

DANIEL O. FISHER.

Witnesses:

MARGARET B. DoNKIN, G. A. ROCKWELL.

